Low-lying areas downstream of a roadside barrier lake in Hualien County’s Taroko National Park would remain on red alert, as excavation of the lake may take up to a week to complete due to the unstable slope of the dam, authorities said today.
More than 900 residents downstream of the Liwu River (立霧溪) were evacuated on Friday last week as the barrier lake caused by a landslide threatened to overflow.
Although rainfall levels have been short of expectations, falling rocks along the slope of the dam have slowed excavation progress, as machinery cannot reach the top, the Hualien branch of the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said.
Photo: CNA
Branch director Huang Chun-tse (黃群策) said the dam is currently 270m high, and the lake’s water volume has lowered to about 2.3 million tonnes.
Water continues to overflow through the Jin Heng Tunnel (靳珩隧道) and the lake’s water level remains stable at about 4.8m below the top of the dam, Huang said, citing data from a research team at National Cheng Kung University.
The excavation team is trying to lower the dam by digging from the top, as this would allow water to gradually drain over, Huang said.
However, excavators are still 10m from the top, as continued rockfalls along the dam slope have made the work challenging, he said.
Rocks tumble down every time an excavator moves 1m or 2m, so large excavators risk destabilizing the slope while smaller ones lack the power to dig efficiently, he added.
Water is also seeping through the dam’s base, which could carve a tunnel through the dam if it worsens, he said.
The body of the dam could be damaged by overflow or excessive seepage at the bottom, but the timing of such an event is impossible to predict, he said.
Low-lying areas downstream of the barrier lake remain under alert, including indigenous communities in Fushih Village (富世) in Sioulin Township (秀林).
Roads and railways downstream are not expected to be impacted, as they are more than 10m above the river level.
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